Computer problem....big time?
Alright so while surfing the internet I got a crash with Blue Screen of Death. (NNNNNOOOO!) I realize this means that a component in my computer has most likely died, but what? I'm thinking harddrive but i'm not as computer saavy as most are.
After restarting I kept running into windows XP boot screen with it getting to the little load bar then restarting back over and over again. I had thought it might have been graphics card, so I removed my new(er) graphics card from the board and plugged my monitor into the old one that's a part of the board. It made a little more progress into booting up as it displayed my desktop but then crashed there too. I tried putting back the new(er) graphics card and plugging the moniter back in there as well. But now I can't get any display what so ever to see if that's the problem, once again I removed the new(er) graphics card and plugged the moniter back into the old card that is part of the board and NOW it won't show any display on that one either (no signal on both graphics cards) So what's the deal? Is this the harddrive or the graphics card? or something worse? I also tried using the slave IDE (or is it IED?) cable to plug in the harddrive to see if that would...well fix anything, as I was desperate to try anything at this point.
How do I get my display working again?
What's the most likely component that has failed?
eMachine D4362
Windows XP SP2
2800 1.0Gig DDR
512 Graphics card
3.0 GHz HT Pent 4
If your answer is "Use Linux" or "Just buy a new computer" then don't bother answering...
Update:tried resetting BIOS by removing battery for about 20 mins, still will not boot display on old graphics card. ideas?
Comments
1. The hard drive should not cause No Video, the exception being that it has turned into a molten pile on the bottom of your computer.
2. You've confused the BIOS by playing the shell game with the video card. Remove the Plug-in video card. Reset the BIOS. This should restore the on-board video card as the default.
3. If the computer video is working, it's time to look at the windows problem that started this problem.
Restart the computer, Press F8 as the POST test screen is finishing up. You should be offered to start up in Safe Mode, choose Safe Mode. If this is your lucky day windows will start in Safe mode. If not, the options are:
Restore to the last Known Good Configuration (an option offered on the screen where Safe Mode was offered).
Repair the windows installation using the Windows CD.
Restore using the Restore CD provided with your computer. (Depending on the option offered all of your files and apps will be lost).
Reformat and reinstall windows. (All of your files and apps will be lost.)
Good Luck
The BSOD (blue screen of death), as its name describe, is one of the toughest errors that you can confront as a Windows user. The Blue Screen of Death is an indication that something serious is going wrong with your computer. One term which may cause this symptom is called a crowded windows registry.The Windows operating system always refers to the registry to fetch information about all of the components such as hardware and software which are installed on the computer. The registry tells Windows what to do and how to access the different programs, files, and processes.However, the registry can contain bad info which makes Windows taking useless tasks or running unnecessary routines. Sometimes errors occur including the blue screen of death. Other times the system slows down. Because of the numerous factors that can involve the registry, there's no one size fits all approach. You can't just go into the registry and remove the bad data because it's nearly impossible to detect which info is good and which one is bad.A registry cleaner can just do the magic.The main objective of a registry cleaner is to eliminate the unneeded items from the windows registry to ensure your computer will keep running faster and with fewer errors.I should like to commend Registry Easy http://best-way-to-improve-pc-performance.com/ to you ! You can scan your pc for free! Good luck!
How about put everything back the way it was. Make sure you check the settings on your monitor.
After that, then "USE LINUX" -- Read On, this is just test your monitor.
Get a Knoppix CD image to boot up from. Burn it to a CD. It is a self-contained OS, so it will bypass windows. http://www.knoppix.net/
So if you boot with this and you still can't see your PC, it's is mostly likely hardware issue.
Try someone else's card. Don't know what else to tell you.
If you can see it, then I would go through the motions to rebuild your Operating System on a new Harddisk. So that you don't lose anything on your current drive.
Have your tried using the xp install cd. Does the xp install cd boot to a usable screen? Can you run the repair option? If you can get that far the problem is not with your graphics card.
If you can run the repair option (not the new install) it should fix any software problem. Read the link below if you are not familiar with the xp repair option.
Good luck
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